Paige Bakken, left, Watertown Optimist Club President Carmen Bakken and Jim Lloyd were among the volunteers previewing Watertown Winter Wonderland on Wednesday evening. The Optimist Club plans for the lighted park to be an annual event.

top story

Driving through a winter wonderland

Paige Bakken, left, Watertown Optimist Club President Carmen Bakken and Jim Lloyd were among the volunteers previewing Watertown Winter Wonderland on Wednesday evening. The Optimist Club plans for the lighted park to be an annual event.

About 40 lit displays at Stokes-Thomas City Park on Lake Kampeska will mark the first Watertown Winter Wonderland this weekend.

Watertown Winter Wonderland opens tomorrow (Saturday) and is scheduled to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 6-9 p.m. through Dec. 23. The drive-through event is run by the Watertown Optimist Club, and admission is a freewill donation to go toward what the organization anticipates being a yearly tradition.

“We’re going to make this a Watertown event,” Optimist Club member Jim Lloyd said.

Volunteers will meet and greet visitors with information, and visitors can tune in to Three Eagles Radio for Christmas music as they tour the light show.

During a Wednesday night preview of the light show, curious passersby as well as Optimist Club volunteers and Watertown Mayor Gary Williams drove into Stokes-Thomas City Park to check out the displays.

John Tangren of the Watertown Optimist Club said all the holiday displays add up to about 20,000 lights, and that the 24 x 13 entrance gate alone is impressive.

“That by itself probably has a couple thousand lights on it,” he said.

Another prominent light display is the Memorial Tree. Visitors can contribute $10 to honor anyone of their choice. Half the proceeds go to Codington County Cares, as part of the Optimist Club’s focus on youth cancer, while the other half goes toward purchasing lights.

The project was made possible by a donation from the Watertown Community Foundation, funding from local businesses and in-kind donations.

Tangren said a goal of Watertown Winter Wonderland is to attract visitors into the city, where they may also do some shopping and dining on a bright weekend night out.

Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.